We all knew it was going to happen, we just didn’t know when. Surprise! Now we do.

Amnesia hits Nice Guy‘s shores, finally, and it’s a relief to get that hurdle over and done with. Not because it’s the greatest story turn ever, but because we can finally stop looking over our shoulders wondering, “When is it going to happen? I don’t want it to happen. It’s not going to happen, right?”

But on the bright side, we have a time skip. And with any good time skip comes that most joyous of cast events: New Hairdos. Let us rejoice.

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EPISODE 9 RECAP

Waves crash on the shore as Maru asks Eun-ki how long she’s known about him and Jae-hee, something she just shrugs off as not being of any consequence. She never said anything because she claims she didn’t want to lose him, which sends Maru into a So you know I know and you know and your mom knows that I’m going to use you for revenge.

Eun-ki’s fine with that, “Because what you feel is not important, but what I feel is important. Regardless of how I do, it is okay as long as I have you.”

Maru doesn’t seem to want her depending on him, and repeatedly tries to warn her away. First when she wonders if they should sleep together and he shoots her dow by saying he’s only got eyes for Jae-hee, and then when he tells her that an Eun-ki who has nothing is worthless to him. He needs the ‘Heir of Taesan Group’ Eun-ki in order for his schemes to work.

She then asks him if everything on his part up until now has been calculated, but I love that she calls him out when he claims the doll incident was planned and literally scolds him for risking his life over a girl.

Eun-ki: “Why did you lie? The Kang Maru that I’ve seen and the Kang Maru that I know are different from you who is standing in front of me right now, trying so hard to act bad. That’s why I came to you like a crazy woman, throwing everything away in the process. Did you know that?”

But then there’s an immediate reversal – as if feeling bad for getting upset, Eun-ki then throws her arms around him and begs for them to just run away and be together. Where he goes, she’ll follow.

Maru has to pry her arms off of him as he looks at her coldly, practically clucking his tongue at how easy she was. By pretending to risk his life for her, he nabbed her too easily.

We don’t know how much of this is true, or how much he’s saying just to warn Eun-ki away. But, there’s no denying that his words are hurtful, and Eun-ki finally has no choice other than to leave. As she walks away, Maru looks ill at ease, and swallows down his feelings, whatever they may be.

Meanwhile, Chairman Seo seems to have regained some strength and works with Joon-ha to tie up any loose ends relating to Jae-hee, while she tucks her son in bed. He’s drawn a family picture, which includes Eun-ki despite, well, everything. Aw.

While on speakerphone with Chairman Seo, Joon-ha asks one more time if he wants to think about things a little more. He interrupts him to ask about Eun-ki’s birthday tomorrow, meaning that he’s hearing Joon-ha’s warnings, but is choosing to ignore them.

The phone stays on when Jae-hee enters with a dangerous look on her face. Chairman Seo’s heart is giving him trouble again, and he grapples with the pain as she hands over all the evidence of his fraud, which she’d kept a copy of just for a moment like this.

While Joon-ha listens on the other end, Chairman Seo looks legitimately heartbroken that Jae-hee would bring this to him. Jae-hee: “In order to protect you, I sacrificed my whole life. Even to a point of ruining the life of a man I loved with all my heart.”

Chairman Seo is still in disbelief, until Jae-hee fires back that he never trusted her for a moment either. She knows the woman he always had in his heart was Eun-ki’s mother, but it’s all the same – she never loved him either, and always had Maru in her heart.

Another wave of pain hits him, and the pill bottle he reaches for falls out of his grasp. Jae-hee holds it hostage as she breaks down, her cold facade fading as she begs him just to give Eun-suk the same amount that he’s giving Eun-ki.

She wants nothing for herself, and seems to mean it when she asks for just this one favor. She seems to only realize how dire the situation is when Chairman Seo falls over in his wheelchair, all while Joon-ha listens.

While in the midst of dialing for help, Min-young arrives and takes the phone away. She resolutely takes it back, and when he does it again, she takes out her cell phone instead. He takes that too: “He’s going to die anyway. Just think that he passed away a few months earlier.”

This was not part of Jae-hee’s plan, and she looks disgusted at his actions before she tries to call for the maid – and this time, Min-young clamps his hand over her mouth as he all but croons, “Didn’t you ask me for help?”

Well, when you put it that way… yeah, she did. But his version of help is leaving Chairman Seo to die so he can protect what’s most precious to him (Jae-hee) and so she can protect what’s most precious to her (Eun-suk).

She seems to realize the horrible genius of Min-young’s plan as she sinks helplessly to her knees, with no more thoughts of calling for help.

Joon-ha’s heard everything and sends Eun-ki a text while she drives, the reading of which almost causes her to get into an accident. Yeek. It reads simply that her father just passed away (that’s a nice way to put it) and to call him back.

Eun-ki finally makes it back onto the road just as Maru belatedly leaves their beach spot, but she makes a U-Turn Of Decision at the last moment. They end up in the same tunnel together driving toward each other, but Eun-ki swerves her car into his lane. What what?

They recognize each other, yet neither crazy person decides to get out of dodge. In fact, they both seem to be at peace with driving headlong into each other. Hooray for romantic joint suicide? No, wait. That sends a bad message.

Maru and Eun-ki smile as their collective headlights engulf them, and we hear the sound of cars crashing.

Fade to white.

Jae-sik sits in a restaurant as the news reports on Chairman Seo’s death earlier that day, along with Eun-ki’s car accident. Both her and Maru are reported to be in critical condition.

Meanwhile, Jae-gil attends a memorial for his father, who’s recently passed away. He ignores all requests for him to return home, especially with word that his brother is an even crueler mob boss than his father ever was.

As for Jae-gil, he just shakes his head and sighs. “You can’t take all that money when you die anyway.”

Eleven months have passed, and a much more dapperly dressed Jae-sik finds Taesan employees handing out flyers in an attempt to find Eun-ki.

It seems like she disappeared while receiving hospital treatment and no one has seen her since, and Jae-sik glances at the flyer before looking up at Taesan, wondering who’ll be in charge if Eun-ki doesn’t come back. I’m sure he knows exactly who.

Cue Jae-hee, sportin’ some new presidential hair as she and and Min-young strut down Taesan’s halls. Joon-ha watches them warily as we flashback to the moment Min-young realized he’d been listening in as they’d let Chairman Seo die.

Despite Joon-ha’s attempts to hang up, Min-young had picked up the phone and addressed him directly. In a surprising twist, he blackmails Joon-ha against taking what evidence he has to the police, because he has evidence that Joon-ha’s father is the one who orchestrated Eun-ki’s mother’s fatal car accident. Uh oh.

So he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place – either go to the police and risk losing Eun-ki forever if she were to find out the truth about his dad’s involvement in her mom’s death, or keep everything a secret. Seems like he chose the latter.

It’s not clear yet whether Chairman Seo ordered the murder, but Min-young claims that it was all because Eun-ki’s mom threatened to take her away forever. Iiinteresting.

Jae-hee is doing business on Taesan’s behalf for the time being, and while she has a friendly chat with a representative from a rival group outside, their talk in private is much harsher.

The woman, Representative Cho, quickly puts Jae-hee in her place by telling her that she’s nothing more than a dog guarding an empty house. Until Eun-ki returns, Representative Cho warns Jae-hee to watch her back, since she’s acting as a friend of Eun-ki’s late mother. Jae-hee seems surprised, but can’t muster up a defense.

Later, a nervous man with glasses gets sucked into some street gambling, where it looks like the odds are literally stacked against him in the form of a rigged game. He even bets all his paycheck only to come up with nothing, but Maru makes a surprise appearance to intervene and coolly prove that the gambler was cheating.

He gives Glasses Man his money back, explaining that his father was a gambler and the games aren’t made to win. He even takes him out for a nice dinner, and the man profoundly thanks him for stepping in, because he’d planned to hang himself if he lost the money.

However, Glasses Man grows increasingly uneasy as the conversation wears on and he realizes that Maru isn’t just a good samaritan, but a man that knows too much about him and his finances.

Turns out that Maru is a hired man with an agenda to get Glasses Man to divulge company secrets in exchange for money to cure his problems. He’s a cheeky bastard, but at the end of the exchange he drops his glass and doubles over in pain. We find him vomiting in a bathroom stall next. Jeez, who isn’t sick in this show?

Jae-gil and Choco are having to wait with a high school kid in Maru’s yard, one who claims that Maru scammed his father and caused him to attempt suicide. Choco tries to get Maru to deny it when he arrives, but is shocked when he instead turns on the kid and asks, “Why are you complaining to me about how stupid and weak your father is?”

Ouch. He launches into an almost introspective speech as he tells the kid that his father trusting someone like him was his own fault. When the kid almost raises a fist against him, Maru again tells him that he’s too weak, but if he gains strength, he can come back and get his revenge.

Choco expresses her disappointment in her brother’s actions: “It was better when you flirted with girls. Flirting with girls, playing with them, and getting their money… I prefer that over this, Kang Maru.”

Maru retreats into his darkened room, but Jae-gil follows to tell him that it’s like another person has been living in his body since the car accident. But he knows his friend enough to realize that Maru must have been shocked to hear that a man almost died because of him, despite all outer appearances.

Jae-gil: “When I look at you these days, I think of a lifeless desert.”

He’s staging an intervention of sorts, or at least, telling Maru to hurry up and die if he really has no will to live. But it’s just a plea for him to come back to his senses, since Jae-gil reminds him that he wasn’t even this bad when Jae-hee left him. “After overcoming all those hardships, how can you be like this now?”

So he cries at Maru’s side, holding onto his friend even though Maru won’t say a word to him.

Jae-hee is unhappy to find her brother outside her house, especially since he’s sniffing out more money. She’s been paying him off only for him to gamble it all away, but she’s not having it this time and forcefully dismisses him without handing over a cent.

Representative Cho’s words about Jae-hee merely being the dog that guards an empty house while the owner is away haunt her once she’s inside, and she takes one look at Eun-ki’s room before ordering the maid to have it cleaned out by tomorrow. She’s going to make it into Eun-suk’s playroom.

Her insecurities from her earlier put-down are showing as she jumps on the maid the second she expresses any trepidation. It’s been almost a year since Eun-ki’s been missing, and they’ve spared no expense to try and find her, so is the maid still waiting? Jae-hee: “But Seo Eun-ki is nowhere in the world!”

Meanwhile, Maru stares at Eun-ki’s ‘Missing’ poster and thinks back to her confession in the rain and her scolding at the beach. Cue brooding session.

At the spa where Representative Cho tried to have Jae-hee banned for being too low class, Jae-hee finds the woman in the midst of a facial and hands her a picture of her husband with a young girl on his arm. Representative Cho shrugs it off, no biggie.

Then, Jae-hee hands her another picture of her husband… only she’s in the picture too, having dinner with him. Oh damn. Time for some revenge.

Jae-hee calmly dangles the woman’s husband in front of her eyes, claiming that there hasn’t been a single man who said no when she wanted him, Representative Cho’s husband not excluded.

I have to hand it to Jae-hee, since she’s probably right about being able to usurp Representative Cho as the lady of her house with little to no effort. “I even seduced Chairman Seo, who is much more faithful than your husband,” Jae-hee sneers. “I gave birth to his son. I’ve become the director of Taesan. Seducing your husband would be easy to do, don’t you think?”

Representative Cho doesn’t have much choice but to give up and agree. As for her list of demands, Jae-hee wants bidding rights to a duty-free store and, more importantly, an apology from Representative Cho.

Choco’s still working at the coffee shop, and can’t help but cry when she thinks of all the good things Maru has done for her over the years. Jae-gil shows up outside with written notes, telling her that his father passed away and though he’s still sad, he’s trying to smile. Aww. Now this scene is cute.

His last note reads: “If we believe, Maru will come back to us again.” What, like Tinker Bell?

But when Choco rushes out to hug him, Jae-gil eventually has to push her away because his heart is beating too fast.

Jae-sik looks like he’s in Maru’s neck of the woods as he begs for a bathroom, while a woman (is that Secretary Hyun?) leads another up the precarious steps. She goes to find something she forgot, and the other woman turns around…

And it’s Eun-ki. So that was Secretary Hyun. (Also: Eun-ki! I missed you!)

She smiles brightly and draws on the walls with the neighborhood children, and starts writing a name… but instead of ‘Kang Maru,’ she writes ‘Kang Ru Ma’.

It’s just at this time that Maru passes her (on his way to con another man into possible suicide) that he hears his name spelt strangely, and how the kids make fun of Eun-ki for not knowing the alphabet. She tries again, this time spelling ‘Ru Kang Ma’, completely unaware that it’s not ‘Kang Maru.’

Maru’s face is agape with shock as he recognizes her, but he’s still able to pick up a crayon to write his name correctly. Eun-ki smiles as she sees it, noting that she knew that name from before.

It’s only when she looks at his face that recognition passes over her features. “You know me, don’t you? You are the one, Kang Maru.” And she produces a camera with pictures of them together from Japan, explaining that she lost all her memories in a car accident. She even had to relearn her own name.

But she knew his name from the woman taking care of her, and claims that she didn’t know who he was from the pictures. However, now that she’s seen him, she remembers who he is.

Eun-ki: “We were very much in love. Weren’t we?”

And as she gazes at him expectantly, a tear falls from her eye. Maru’s eyes are red as he stares back at her, silent.

COMMENTS

It’s a little early to pass judgment on the amnesiac story turn, but my only hope is that we do something fresh with it from this point forward. There’s certainly no denying that amnesia is a well-worn trope, and I don’t know whether to be more critical because we’ve known about this plot movement since the promotional materials, or just to be glad that it finally got done before the end of the first half.

There’s some hope to be had in that this was a planned maneuver, and not something thrown in at the last minute to add extra drama. (Yeah, as if we need any more of that.) Basically, I have to hold myself back from speculating before I see more than five seconds of Eun-ki as an amnesiac. We’ll check back in with this tomorrow.

As for the rest of the episode, things ran smoothly except for one big hiccup: The Accident Scene. If I’ve got the sequence of events right, Chairman Seo died, Eun-ki got the text from Joon-ha, made a U-Turn Of Decision, and presumably either recognized Maru behind the other wheel of the car or just didn’t care what car she ran into. Maru might have maybe seen that it was her behind the wheel, which is maybe possibly probably why they both smiled as they were about to die together.

Which, what? Just… what? A whole new character realm opens up as soon as characters become suicidal, and for all intents and purposes what we saw (or heard) was a death attempt, not a I-Hope-I-Just-End-Up-Slightly-Maimed attempt. Granted, we didn’t see the crash so anything could have happened, but if it was anything except a crash I’ll be calling shenanigans on the sound editor.

It does take a bit of wind out of Eun-ki’s sails for me, especially if she was raring to die because events had just become too much to bear. She’s a passionate, impulsive person, and while I could believe her near-suicidal efforts to save her doll from the edge of a cliff, it gets a bit trickier when she’s not in it for a greater good or personal gain. What did she believe in in that moment? That the company no longer meant anything to her, and life without Maru and her Dad was just not one worth living?

I’m looking forward to all that being explained, as well as who was involved in what and to what kind of degree, especially in the case of Eun-ki’s whereabouts for the last eleven months. For a second there I thought Maru had been squirreling her away this whole time, which would have been pretty fun. But, I suppose a good ol’ lover’s reunion is just as fun, too.

The little feelers from this episode and the preview for next week make me think the second half will blow the socks off the first half, just in terms of unexpected twists – this writer has definitely gotten better from A Love to Kill (still one of my favorites, but logical? No.) – she definitely has better reasons for people to do crazy stuff this time around. I loooooooove this show. No one is just simply one thing or another, and I’m never quite sure if someone is doing something to be MEAN or to be good. with the exception, so far, of Secretary Hwang and Lawyer Park. They seem straight out good. And Jae Gil. He’s good. Ok, Choco too. FINE. There’s lots of good people. But I don’t feel safe assigning anyone a straight-up evil role.

the characters are very realistic…believable. because the writer makes (most) everything revealed right away, the characters seem more realistic. and even though the evil ones are evil, they display good sides that redeem them from being ‘totally, over-the-top, evil. for me, that’s what makes this drama watchable (word?)

somewhat disappointed with the use of amnesia, but heh–it’s a coping mechanism that could very well be applied to Eun Ki’s turn of events. so, i’ll excuse the writer for now.

This writer has given me some of my favorite dramas: Tough Guy’s Love (Kkokji), I’m Sorry I Love You, and the beginning half of Will It Snow For Christmas. The 2nd half of WISFC was such a huge disappointment, and that’s why I’m so apprehensive. The first half of Nice Guy has exceeded my expectations so here’s to the next stretch!

i like your take on texting…however, under the circumstances…i think lawyer park did the right thing because:

a- EunKi wasn’t answering her phone calls from him
b- he witnessed a murder – so prolly freaked out
c- he wanted to tell her it was murder and ask her what he should do next.

so in his defense, i think he made the correct decision to text.

recently, i received a text apologizing for something really big and it not only upset me further but now i don’t trust the person. this is a situation where you should never text. if you’re gonna apologize, do it in person.

I’m kind of loving how the plot’s been reset over these last few episodes. We thought we were getting a straight-up revenge plot, but Maru gave up on that (thank goodness!) in ep 8. So now… what? I have no idea but I’m looking forward to finding out.

Some random thoughts:

Jea-hee, I just cannot hate you. She’s tried a couple of different times to take the consequences — for the murder in the beginning and in this ep for the cheating — and both times her chosen beaus have prevented her. Plus, I can’t hate a mom trying to keep her child safe. I just can’t. (I kind of love how the show plays with my sympathies. I swing from one character to another, sometimes in the same damn scene.)

Chairman Seo, why so shocked? Seriously, why was he acting like Jea-hee was a crazy from crazy-town in not trusting him from the outset and threatening him to protect her (well, technically “their” but he’s seriously the worst dad ever, so…) son. It’s like he expected her to just meekly bow down to his imperious commands.

Eun-gi’s suicide: I can believe she was going for dead. Maru, too. They were both on the verge of a breakdown anyway. And Eun-gi had already given up on Tae San group. (She didn’t know her dad had swung back onto her side, right?) She’d failed at living her dad’s way and then failed at living her mom’s way. So why not a blaze of glory for an end? (My one drama-handwave is the suggestion they could see each other. At night. In a tunnel. But it’s cooler story-wise if they can, so laws of physics be damned. )

And finally: PurpleJesus, how is Maru so hot? He’s teasing a weeping high school boy and I’m having to hold back the drool. I think SJK has broke my brain.

She already had it all, charmain trust, and even was considered part of the family, but what she did? Cheated on him with lawyer lol

Plus, now that has no charmain, where is her so called love for Maru and her promise to go back to him ? She got it all, she is on the top, so…. what she wants more? Imo she just want more and more power and isn’t thinking in her son at all.

I do believe she loves him a lot, but power is like this, you always want more when you have a bit of it.

I agree that folks who do bad things on behalf of their children are full of baloney.
Really?
Did you ask little ES if he wants you to destroy his father and sister so he can be the heir?
It is so obvious she is projecting her wishes onto the kid to rationalize her deviousness.

You know what kids need? Parents who teach them to work and to stand on their own, that feeling entitled will destroy your future. That in life, it doesn’t matter what circumstances you land in, but what you do with yourself that forms you as a person. (Rant off.)

Hmm… I don’t want to go too far with my appreciation for Jae-hee’s protectiveness of her son. I absolutely agree, lizzie, that Jae-hee’s own greed is a powerful driver for her. But I also believe she sincerely loves her son and wants him safe and happy. And I believed her when she was begging Chairman Seo to just throw her out and keep custody of their son. That she would have wanted more later, I’m sure of as well. But in that moment, she was the one in the right as far as I’m concerned. (Jae-hee isn’t often in the right, so I try and acknowledge those moments when they come.)

8.1.2.1.2 AweOctober 12th, 2012 at 3:05 PM

amen, Jomo!! (or whatever the short version is of “i agree with you about what children need”)

good post.

8.1.2.2 RyaOctober 12th, 2012 at 7:52 PM

I agree that she is more than likely doing in for herself, but I believe that she is doing it for her son as well. Yes, she wants it all, but I do see her doing it for her son too. Just because she is evil, doesn’t me she’s in it for herself. Or you wouldn’t see her concern for Eun Ki in the 1st episode (of which the genuity of that could be argued) or the way she begged for Eun Seok to get equally with Eun Seok and (albeit belatedly) sought to help the chairman. So while, she definitely wants the power and all that comes with it, I don’t see her as inherently evil and believe she is being truthful to an extent. And I wouldn’t go as far as to say she isn’t thinking about her son at all. She wants the lifestyle Taesan provides for him, just as much as she wants it for herself. I think most everyone would want their child in a situation in which poverty and abuse exist and it’s either that or Taesan. Which would you want for your child?

She even had to relearn her own name. She even had to relearn her own name.

I don’t have the words right now to explain why that hits me so hard, except to say that it reminds me of all the nicknames Eun Ki had for people, like how she called Ma Ru “ajusshi” and “good looking man,” and how she always referred to Jae Hee as “the woman who’s going to marry my father” or some other disparaging monicker. Like, what does it mean that she hasn’t only lost her memories, but herself? And all she has left is this romantic love? Like, is that an exchange? I don’t know. I can understand an argument being made about how having amnesia might be a good thing for her because she gets to let go of all the pain she’s been holding, but I’m one of those people who really appreciates ownership, and I don’t mean capital–I mean ownership of pain, of happiness, and of oneself, if that makes any sense. Something about it all making up who you are, etc., etc. And oof!–when Ma Ru said he’d rather sleep with Jae Hee. Just…damn.

Yep. That’s why I was expecting that they’ll eventually decide about where their lives will be heading while they are their normal selves. But we can argue, they’ve never been normal. A good shake wouldn’t awaken them. Haha.

I’m guessing that the good lawyer and the good secretary do convince Maru to help them in their plans to reinstate Eun Gi at Tae San – he can help because she loves him and that’s supposed to improve her chances of regaining her memory. For whatever reason, Maru agrees to do it.

In the end, he will genuinely love her (I expect twists and turns and heartbreak along the way) and she will be the head of Tae San Group – but Maru dies from the brain hemorrhaging.

I will be in the middle of that group hug sobbing like there’s no tomorrow.

As a matter of fact, when I discovered EunKi is sick, I’ve already prepared my self for the bucket of tears to come by convincing my self that she’s gonna die. And then MaRu starts barfing all of a sudden and I’m all “This ain’t good for my heart, he’s definitely dying in the end.”

After 8 episodes of no-amnesia awesomeness, I thought it would be behind us. When I heard episode 9 would have the amnesia plot, I told myself, it could work since Maru is finally coming back to his senses about Jae-hee. However, like you, the whole car-accident-that-was-not-an-accident-and-caused-amnesia was like wut??? REALLY, EUN-GI? REALLY? If you want to die, then die. Don’t involve other people. And you’re going to just hand your company over to Jae-hee? Get a grip! Actually I’m more mad at the writer, because she also ended up adding the whole 1.Junha’s dad killed Eun-gi’s mom reveal and 2. Maru’s got a mysterious illness. Do we need additional angst?!

I hope there is more to that car accident than the two cars hitting each other head-on without thinking. Maybe they both decided to swerve at the last second but did it in the same direction and had hit each other.

There were still some things I love about the episode:
1. the beach scene. I just knew Eun-gi had fallen for him because of the rescue-her-barbie-doll scene. Regarding him sleeping with her, I think she asked why he didn’t try to sleep with her instead of wondering if they should sleep together.
2. Maru’s hair. Makes him loo hot.
3. MUCH better Choco and Jae-sik scenes.
4. The Jae-hee x Chairman scene. Park Si Yeon was riveting in that scene!
5. don’t love it, but I think it is interesting that Maru became the type of person to take advantage of people like Jae-hee and smirking at those who used to be idealistic like himself.
6. Secretary Hyun. I’m glad Eun-gi’s got female support.
7. crayon scene. Something so sad about reuniting with someone you didn’t think you would see again and finding out there is something wrong with her brain AND then to find out that your name is important to her.

Secretary Hyun! ♥♥♥ Love seeing how Eun Ki inspires loyalty in people (great contrast to Jae Hee, who can turn people, but who can’t keep them). Like, how awesome is it that it’s those workers at Taesan who were handing out flyers looking for her? Rival companies aren’t the only ones who see Jae Hee’s grip over Taesan as invalid, her own employees think so, too.

Why is her grip invalid when EG is missing? She didn’t make her crush or leave the hospital. How do you know she didn’t make the employees hand-out the flyers. Why is JH getting all the hate yet Maru uses people and almost caused someone to die and he still gets loved?

That scene with the two cars heading toward each other was intense. I’m guessing that ma ru has something wrong with his brain because of the accident. As dark as this show has been and with this new development in his health, I doubt we’re going to see a happy ending.

so with you.
i was just gonna comment saying how the car accident scene almost gave me a heart attack.
The way maru knew it was her, didnt blink, didn’t swerve..
Says so much. It was like he was ready to just leave the world..in peace. and that smile at the end. shivers.

Can’t they call up Dr. Lee Kang Hoon over there at Seoul Something Something Hospital? Didn’t they open a new wing just for miracle-brain-surgeries-that-usually-people-die-from?

I hope the writer has not decided his fate already. We know SJK can bring it whatever the script has in store, and we know this is a melo, but I personally would rather see MR LIVE after going through all the stuff he will be put through rather than die happy.

Although, I think the foreshadowing from the Tunnel of Death scene is he will die. He has escaped death once; his remaining time will be spent on redeeming EG.

Although, I don’t think they really ran into each other. I think it may actually have been a Tunnel of Swerve At The Last Minute.

I think he will live at the end but suffer from some form of amnesia…you know like lightening striking twice.

And if he does suffer brain damage in the end, it will probably be anterograde amnesia where he loses the ability to form new memories but events prior to his amnesia remain intact. *Gasp* Memories of JH. The one still of JH being in the back of KMR (as in events prior to his amnesia) and SEG in the front (representing new memories) comes to mind.

The wager the writer is going to be cruel to the hero, shock the audience.

Geez, just when I thought I couldn’t hate Min-young and Jae-hee anymore, they literally let Chairman Seo die, and do nothing. At least Jae-hee had the guts to feel sorry about it. Min-young is crazy. Just, absolutely crazy. I hate them both.

Can I just say, I’m loving the new hairstyles? Especially Maru’s and Eun-ki’s. Long hair suits Eun-ki better, I think.

My few cents: I managed to watch this episode and the next one so without spoiling anything, I’m going to say that I actually like the general direction in which the show is moving towards. In the beginning, I was apprehensive about the amnesia trope since that usually never gets done to my tastes. But it was well executed in Arang and the Magistrate and now it’s done here too IMO. Explaining why will just spoil the next episode so will refrain from doing so.

Meanwhile…the accident was quite intense for me. I know Maru’s crazy enough to plunge headfirst into danger without a second thought (particularly after that chilling admission of his that he would die because he knows someone else will accompany him too) but Eun Ki? Even I wonder what she was thinking when she did that. Obviously neither fear death…seems more like child’s play to both of them.

Also, I feel like there are some inconsistencies going on character-wise. Choco was okay with Maru conning women but not okay with him conning businessmen? It seems to me that Maru is doing both for the same reasons too: to pay for Choco’s medical expenses. So I don’t see how the situation is different here in Choco’s view. Is it because this time there was involvement of death? What if one of the women Maru conned also committed suicide?

Overall, I like Maru’s and Eun Ki’s new hairstyles. Both look awesome as ever, lol. And personally, I’m really rooting for a HEA for both of them…I really want to see them in love.

I think the women Maru conned were women who were well-off and bored – the kind who would cheat on their husbands. The women he conned are likely women who went and approached him. So while these women were hunting him because of sexual attraction or boredom, he hunted them right back. Conning a desperate dad who is likely the main breadwinner for a family is something else. He researches these guys and then hunts them. It’s like, really? He’s taking advantage of people who are already vulnerable and desperate.

Nah. I think s/he just wants a teeny bit of sunrise from the cast since all of them are so gloomy. A flicker of hope kinds of give the audience a reason to continue travelling with them I guess. Me thinks that’s what s/he wants to say.

I can sort of understand why she would U turn and suicidally drove toward Maru like that. Her whole life she’s been working toward validation from her father, not to mention she has trust issues toward people. Then the guy she falls for turned out to be a lying bastard who doesn’t love her and only wanted to use her (or so she somewhat believe) and she kept giving him chances to leave all of it behind and start anew but he reject her. Then her father die. She has no other motivation in life. No goal left to accomplish. So she drove toward him maniacally, almost like testing to see if he would doge out of the way.

But he doesn’t. In their own messed up way, it’s his way of saying the stuffs he did, some of it wasn’t a lie because he was willing to carry the driving as far as she did. So I guess I understand the reason as to why they both crashed.

Yup. I think to her, maru was the ONLY person left who she thought could really help her.
Just thinking about him made her happy. And the fact that he didn’t accept her feelings(for her own good), she felt so lost. And of course, (with perfect timing i might add) she finds out her dad died right after.
For someone that emotionally damaged, it’s hard NOT to think of suicide. Some of us are able to handle misfortunes better than others. I like to think the ones that put up the walls are the ones most vulnerable.
I just hope this amnesia/time skip does the story good. Because the whole revenge on jae-hee would not have gotten very far.
Love you eun-gi! Keep fighting!

I can see why Eun-gi would have just lost it (though I disagree with the murdering part of her actions…), but for Maru, I always thought that he wouldn’t leave Choco hanging a second time (after the way he left her to go to Jae-hee only to get the shackles on him).

I am looking for what the writer’s goals were for a double car crash suicide, trying to find the narrative purpose.
To this point, it doesn’t make sense, but I will go with it because I think we have not actually seen enough of that scene. As I have said up there, I think someone swerved.

Driving your car into someone else’s car that you love?
It’s pretty definite. (Personally, I have never thought that shared suicide is romantic. It turns my stomach. I don’t care how much you love someone, you are NOT better off in the afterlife with them than you are here, working through whatever problems you have. Family is aganst you? MOVE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY, but don’t off yourself.)
But here, FATE has intervened. No matter how much they wanted to kill themselves, they didn’t succeed.

Let’s look at stats. A suicide attempt is usually a call for help. Pills, wrist cutting, gas, even guns can fail. The person’s caregivers usually take them for treatment to make sure the patient addresses the cause of this death wish. If not, the patient will keep trying.

We see that Maru IS trying to end his life, very slowly but very assuredly. We see EG, otoh, has literally wiped the slate clean. At least for now.

So, narratively the Tunnel of Death provides us with a marker to end the first half.

For me, I see that Eun Gi knew exactly who she was driving into the the tunnel, and I can kind of understand why she did it. She gave up everything just to be with Maru, expecting him to really take her in forever, just like he had promised in earlier episodes. However, Maru callously pushed her away. So much heartbreak for the poor girl. Then she received news that her father had passed away, which means the only other person who was family (she still loved her father no matter what had happened before) was no longer in the other home she could go back to already. I can’t be sure why she decided to U turn back towards the beach, but it is clear the world she thought could bring her happiness, and the old world she used to know basically crashed around her in just half a day. When she saw Maru’s car in the tunnel, in a moment of weakness, she lost the will to live and swerved into his lane. Like someone else has mentioned, maybe it was also a test to Maru to see if he would avoid her car. Twisted I must say, but fitting to Eun Gi’s character and what she her self had said before: It doesn’t matter how you feel, cos what i feel is the important thing.

In the last ep, Jae hee and Min-Young both learnt that the Chairman had redrafted his will and left everything to Eun-Ki (after discovering their affair). So how would letting him die benefit them in any way?

At this point Eun Ki is still well and alive so the Chairman’s death should have left Jae Hee with nothing and Eun Ki with everything. *scratch head*

I bet all the people that dislike maru really hate him now.
Im just wondering what could have been if he let eun-gi stay by his side. He probably would have changed for the better. This proves that they NEED each other.
In the little time they’ve spent together i swear i saw a spark of humanity left in him. THERES HOPE YET.

I don’t know how the amnesia will play out — i agree with heads. Now is too early to determine, but I hope they do good with this. too often i’ve seen this drama scope go horribly wrong.
The time skip i’m loving though — gives the writer even more and a somewhat cleaner slate. The maru revenge on jae-hee couldn’t possibly gone far.

Oh yeah! And her clothes are all large and soft and shapeless and his are very structured and stiff. And their hair: hers is all wavy and his is…um…gelled? Lovely stuff to look at (even though I miss Eun Ki’s leather pants).

The writing on the wall scene blew me away!!I had tears in my eyes…it was a real shock to see the always stubborn,sharp and cold calculating eunki not being able to even write properly,maru must have also been really shocked,I mean who wouldn’t be?? I am totally hooked,this is the only drama which has hit me hard since K2H…hope the storyline remains strong and doesn’t go flat…I find jaehee a very interesting character,she knows she has gone too far to return back and sometimes she herself wonders what she has become..I think she has not gone full on crazy only because of eunsoek and if the chairman had given her some love,she might have not done all this…and finally I hope we have a happy ending or I might just die….I want to see little eunki and maru playing while eunki and maru look at them lovongly,I know that wont happen but please not a sad ending!!!

could there be justice for this character??Where’s justice enticed by revenge can they claim what they want…Is Eun ki amnesic..Or jus a pretend..Ok whatever it is Maru is going to fall in love and give his woman what she deserves even fight with tooth &nail against tge Woman jahee whom he once loved wholeheartedly..Now Maru is going to love Eun ki more than he loved Jahee …Wait Can that intense love feeling he had for Jahee be replaced by Eun ki…over those decades…I dont know yet
thanks for recap

I seriously feel like I’m watching two separate dramas – when wait what, everything took place within an hour?! Shocked doesn’t even cut it. I’m not one of those who keep pushing the Amnesia button – when will it happen? Will it? etc – so all in good pacing for me, but as of right now can’t quite put my mind on whether the writer blew my mind away with the seemingly two separate dramas-feel of Nice Guy or just really smart writing. I’ll prolly settle for the latter, but the second half better not disappoint…

I have a feeling it might be a double fake. That would be a more interesting story line. Eun-ki faking him out and after making him feel all lovey-dovey and torn and responsible, just stops and says, “Now you know how that shit feels, Maru.”

He just worries about leaving money for her hospital fees (= his duty as the hyung) but he doesn’t care how she feels or if he’ll leave her alone in the world… again, but this time forever because he was willing to die with EG in the car scene. Don’t even think in his sister again, he did it when he chose JH and now he chose EG /his feeling over Choco again, poor girl.

But on the bright side, we have a time skip. And with any good time skip comes that most joyous of cast events: New Hairdos. Let us rejoice.

I love you, Heads. Your intros just keep getting better.

I had the same reaction to the car crash you did. Actually the first half of this episode gave me whiplash. Hopefully we get some explanation in ten. I want to know why Secretary Hyun is hiding Eun-ki. To protect her? Or some more nefarious reason?

I suspect everyone now. Even Joon-ha has fallen to the dark side. Jae-gil and Choco are the only sane, honest people in this drama. Speaking of which, I really liked their scenes this episode.

Love this episode. Every one gets a brand new hairdo! Love Maru and Jae Gil’s haircut, so sexy and handsome. Love your comment about Jae Hee’s do (executive haircut). I think hers is the least attractive because it make her look like an rich old adjumma. LOL. Choco’s do is cute.

At last, I was wondering when Eun Ki was finally going to get amnesia.That was stupid, cold and uncaring of Lawyer Park to send her a text about her dad passing away. Couldn’t he have waited and tell her in person?

The car crash scene was awesome.You hear but don’t see the crash, but your mind can imagine the worst case scenario. It’s like playing “Chicken” to see who is going to get out of the way, but both decide on a double suicide? I guess Maru thought Jae Gil will take care of Choco if something happened to him. Eun Ki probably felt she had nothing to live for and to “screw the world” and tries to kill herself and Maru.

Maybe when Eun Ki’s memory returns and she takes back her company, she’ll remember how to dress more attractively instead of wearing those ugly, oversized, baggy clothes? Why should Jae Hee wear all the nice expensive clothing?

Yipes! Maru could have run away with Eun Ki and started fresh, but he hasn’t changed his con man ways. I hope Maru gets redemption because I like happy endings. Even though I can’t see anyone coming out smelling like a rose or being happy at the end because their lives are so complicated and twisted. Hope this one doesn’t have a sad ending. : )

After watching the crayon-wall-writing scene so many times and crying in the process I just notice that Eunki is using white crayon and white clothes while Maru is using bLack crayon and bLack cLothes. How cool is that!! Facial expression in that particuLar scene is awesome

At first I thought that some how Min young and Jae Hee had tried to kill Eun Gi and thats how she had lost her memory, So I guess I’m still a little dissapointed that she tried to kill herself instead :/
Ahh…ohh well

Okay I totally don’t get how JaeHee got to be the director of TaeSan…didn’t the president say he changed his will when he found out about her cheating? DID THE WRITERS THINK I DIDN’T SEE THAT HUH?!! Maybe it’s best to ignore it though lol.

I actually totally buy suicidal Maru, but suicidal Eungi is a little out of nowhere. Maybe she was in shock after her father’s death?? completely possible since he obviously respected him. ngl still it’s kinda strange…

I found this episode so powerful though. So much Maru angst. It was so upsetting how he was sort of relieved EunGi was coming at him with the car. just, AHHH ;_; so many feelings.

He change his will but EG is missing so JH who now only one family left have the right to take control (ES is still too young though). That’s why she doesn’t want EG back and want to take EG out of her position in Taesan.

You know I have always absolutely despised Kang Maru. I never liked him one bit, even though I understood what he had to face due to Jaehee’s betrayal. A guy who was willing to leave his sick sister, take the responsibility of a murder he didn’t commit as his own choice, and then even go as far as to use an innocent bystander to get his so-called “revenge” just struck me as a lead character who was absorbingly despicable. It didn’t help that his revenge was misconstrued, and underneath it all he was just holding on to the monster he wanted to take down out of love. And no unlike other viewers Song Joong Ki’s cute face did not help AT ALL. But I have to say that the thing that bugged me the most was that he was always aware of Eungi’s trust issues. He saw first hand how she was treated at the hands of her father. He witnessed how hurt she’s been from the past. He saw in her a version of him..someone who was manipulated because of love. Yet he took advantage of that. He who understood her character the most because he was ultimately her, used his knowledge as a tool against her. While to Eungi, he was finally the person who understood her pain, somebody she can familiarize with, for him she was a useful tool to his revenge. I know he wavered in his revenge and ultimately pitied her but underneath it all he was a guy who took advantage of her vulnerability and pain, pretended to be the guy she can trust, only to betray her. Did he even consider her reaction to the whole ordeal? How much pain it would cause her? That’s not love to me. You know at first I was kind of iffy about it, but I’ve learned to accept the twist because if you think about it Eungi was always that child deep down. She just masked herself with all those barriers to protect herself, but she was always innocent and pure hearted in the core…especially when it came to Maru. I mean if I was her I would have gone FULL BLOWN REVENGE on him after finding out he betrayed me. I WOULD HAVE DESTROYED HIM LOL..the beating would NOT BE ENOUGH. Yet her reaction upon realizing Maru’s deception was one of the best decisions the writer could make: Eungi doesn’t have the ability to get revenge. Because although she may fool herself into thinking she’s in control, ultimately she is left in the hands of the cruel world. She’s the epitome of purity..yet her goodness is her disadvantage. However, it’s also her inherent goodness that can bring change to somebody’s dark world, namely Maru’s. And ultimately, the most important thing about the twist (with the amnesia) I think is how it will be the catalyst to drive Maru to LIVE AND LOVE. Without Choco, Maru is nothing as mentioned initially, he was holding on to Choco to be his humanity. However, Choco can’t be his forever as she has a life to live and she will ultimately move on. Now his only humanity is Eungi..the only person that believed in him no matter what and the person he now can live for. Her goodness will bring color into his dark world. With her memory gone, however, we now have an interesting reversal that excites me. Now that her walls are no longer up and her memories of him gone, Maru will realize that he no longer has consolation in her love. Now he has to fight to keep her (his humanity). because now he needs her more than she needs him. I think the twist was kind of EPIC in that way.

i totally agree on the Maru front. i thought he is really messed up and an obsessive sado-masochist —

but eun-gi is the same don’t you think? why fall so hard for him???? is it enuf that he risked his life for her doll? if someone did that for me i would be like “that is excessive to do for a stranger — so there must a ulterior motive or this person has a death wish. stay away from him.”

i do not know— maru and eun-gi have similar fixated notions of love upto this point and the amnesia gives them a chance to redo.

Joooon Ha! I can’t believe he got blackmailed at that moment for that excruciating event. Hiding evidence for the death Eun Gi’s mother and father! Damn, the only innocent character we had is gone… (aside from the kids)

I am soo curious to what this amnesia is bringing to the story.
Ps Love the new looks! Especially Jae Gil’s dark hair.